City Treasurer Candidate Considers A State Job, Too

HARTFORD — The leading candidate to replace Hartford city Treasurer Denise Nappier is her assistant, Kathleen Palm.

But the city council will have to wait to get an answer from Palm, who also has an invitation to follow Nappier to the state Capitol for a job in the state treasurer's office.

Nappier was elected state treasurer this week, narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Paul Silvester, capping a longshot bid that began more than a year ago.

``I am honored [with the offers],'' Palm said Friday. ``I have to decide what's best for the city and the state and myself.''

Palm was an investment officer and executive assistant under then- State Treasurer Frank Borges is the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In making her decision, Palm will have a lot to ponder.

She could leave her city job now, or stay on for a year to lend stability to the office and then follow Nappier to the state. Or she could stay on with the hope of remaining for the long haul. The city treasurer's seat is up for re-election in 1999.

Though Palm is well-known in Hartford's white, Latino and black communities, there is still no guarantee she would get the Democratic nomination for the job. But even without the nomination, she still would have Nappier's new office as a fallback position.

By charter, the city council can fill the treasurer's vacancy with a five votes from the nine-member panel.

Council Majority Leader John B. Stewart Jr. said council members will begin formally discussing the matter in caucus before Monday's meeting at 8 p.m. in city hall.